


Missing In Action

by Rinielle



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Discussion of character death, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 16:12:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinielle/pseuds/Rinielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Quinn receives a phone call to tell her Finn is missing in action, presumed dead, her whole world falls apart in an instant. The only thing keeping her together, and helping her to heal is their son. Two years later she receives another call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing In Action

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: "5 years since they graduated from college, Quinn is 5 weeks pregnant. Finn comes back after two years in the army, Quinn believed he was dead but when they face to face each the reunion is more emotional that they thought and he found out that she was pregnant a week after he left for the army."
> 
> This got away from me a little... it was meant to be a lot shorter but... yeah. I really loved this prompt and I hope I did it justice.

_It was seven in the morning when she got the call._

_Normally she would still have been asleep, having nothing to get up for on a Sunday morning until church; and that didn’t start until ten thirty. Sunday mornings were lazy. Sunday mornings meant sleeping in, and waking to the smell of eggs and bacon, because Finn slept in most mornings and she only got this one, so he’d always make it special. Sunday mornings meant lazy kisses and laughter and messing around and all the other things that work prevented on every other morning of the week. Only they didn’t mean that anymore. They hadn’t meant that for three months now; not since Finn had been called up; to do his duty, to serve his country. She’d rather he was still serving breakfast to her, in a failed attempt at a smiley face. Sunday mornings now were still sleeping late, still bacon and eggs when she could be bothered with it, but the lazy kisses and laughter and all that was gone with him. On this morning the sleeping late had gone too. She had woken half an hour before the call, which was unusual enough, and when asked afterwards she’d say it was almost like she knew it was coming. In reality she woke because a break in the curtains allowed the rising sun to shine directly onto her face; but that didn’t explain the chill that ran down her spine the moment the phone rang._

_Any number of people could have been calling. Everybody knew that she was home on a Sunday morning. Everybody knew she had nothing better to do until ten fifteen when she left for the church. People called her on a Sunday morning all the time; granted usually slightly later but still. Anybody could have been calling and yet, when she made her way towards the phone, a small shuddering part of her mind was telling her not to pick up. She did; and she supposes, it would have been true even if she hadn’t, but she still wishes she’d listened to that gut instinct. Wishes she’d never had to hear the words: “Mrs Hudson?... I’m so very sorry to inform you…”_

_She’d dropped the phone then, and very nearly fell to the floor. The only thing that stopped her was a sudden strange fluttering sensation in her stomach, and the shock of it made her reach out to clutch at the desk beside her, her other hand flying up to cover her slightly rounded belly. It was as if he knew, she thought, as if he knew and wanted to remind her he was there, that she still had a reason to stay standing._

_She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, simply staring straight ahead until the hallway became a blur through tears still hanging on to the edges of her eyes, as if waiting for her to break before they fell. She could still hear his words from the last time they spoke, his week of leave was coming up, he was so excited to see her, to go to her next doctor’s appointment with her. They were going to go for a walk in the park where he’d proposed, go past the playground and imagine themselves there in a few years time. They were going to have another Sunday together; it had only been a few days away._

 

 

_It wasn’t until a loud knocking sounded from the end of the hallway that she even moved, and she made her way to the door to open it more on instinct and muscle memory than awareness; and then Carole was there, and she hugged her tightly, and then – only then – did Quinn fall apart._

* * *

 

M.I.A

It’s as good as a death sentence as far as most wives or partners are concerned, whatever the circumstances. For him, it was an explosion, a series of mines in the road his squad had been driving along. Several bodies were found; or parts of bodies – and it makes Quinn feel sick to think about it – the news reporters had repeated that fact over and over again. Only two of seven were formally identified, making the rest M.I.A and Quinn had only hung onto the shred of hope that came with it being unofficial for five months before resigning herself to what had to be the truth. Finn was gone; her high school sweetheart, the love of her life, her husband. He was gone, and she couldn’t even bury him or say goodbye. They had a memorial, but it wasn’t the same.

Carole had hung on just a little longer, but it the end it was just too painful to live with; and neither of them had ever been the kind to cling to false hopes.

They had each other, and during the last few weeks of the pregnancy Carole had moved in to help out. Burt had offered to come along, but the Hummel’s lived a town over, and he had a business to run and Abigail had preschool to attend, and it was only for a few weeks after all. Her mother had offered too, but it felt more right for it to be Carole.

She wondered sometimes at the irony. When she had Beth, he had been right outside the room; according to Tina he was pacing like a nervous animal the whole time. He was the first to ask if she was okay, if the baby was okay when one of the nurses walked by. Beth wasn’t his child, he had known that for months by then, and still he was right there waiting, pacing, hoping. He had come back after the announcement for regional’s, he’d sat with her for an hour before visiting time was up for non-family members and her mother had taken his place. Now his mother had taken his place for the birth of his son.

Having Liam there, tangible, made it easier. Not better, but easier. She had a reason to get up in the mornings – the very early morning more often than not – she had someone there to love, to hold, to cherish. He had his eyes. She would gaze at them in his quiet moments, and she could really smile again, just for a little while, and she would whisper to him about his daddy, about how funny he was, how ridiculous and stupid and reckless and beautiful and brave he had been. About the silly dreams they had had about their lives together; the three of them. How much he would have loved him. She doesn’t notice the tears until Carole gently takes Liam from her and places him back in his crib. Then she’d break again, and she let her mother-in-law hold her through it. Her own mother took over when it came time for Carole to go back to her own little family.

Eventually she was able to live alone again. She could get through days, even weeks without a breakdown. Liam grew faster than she could have imagined, and she thought to herself that he was going to be as tall as his father one day. She started to smile more, and even laugh a little; though there was always something half-hearted in it. Mercedes visited as often as she could with her busy schedule, Santana and Brittany come by, and Brittany is surprisingly good with the baby, cooing over him. It’s during one of their visits that he first laughs, and the sound brings tears to Quinn’s eyes; for the first time in a long time, they’re not tears of grief.

His first birthday was a small affair. Her mother came, and Carole, Burt, Abigail and Kurt with Blaine in tow. A few friends dropped by, or sent cards and apologies for not being able to be there. Even her father had sent a card, along with some money for a present, and she placed it with all the others and considered phoning him to thank him. It was a good day, more for her than it was for Liam who slept through most of it. She kisses the picture she has of Finn beside her bedside table that night, and tells him she wishes he was there.

He’s been babbling for months. She disregarded the sounds of ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ as just that, sounds, easy sounds that he recognises and puts together for the sake of making them. She doesn’t even remember which of them he makes first. She was alone for his first identifiable word. It was ‘juice,’ a slightly garbled version, but he’d clearly been reaching for his bottle and he repeated it again and again until, slightly stunned she moves it close enough for him to grab. She cried again that night, like she hadn’t cried since the first few weeks after the phone call; she lay in bed clutching at what had once been Finn’s pillow. He should have been there, should have heard his child’s first word, smiled that ridiculously huge smile at her and hugged her close and encouraged Liam to say it again. He should have been there then, holding her and murmuring in her ear about how fast Liam is developing, about how clever he is going to be. He should be there in the future, to see his first tooth, his first steps, his first day of nursery school, his first everything.

He should just be there.

It’s not fair.

* * *

 

 

She moves on slowly; in fits and starts. She’s not alone, she knows. Sometimes she’ll catch Carole staring at Liam, who is looking more and more like his father every day except for his wispy auburn hair, which is all her. She’s had to comfort her mother-in-law almost as many times as it has been the other way around. She’s sat with Kurt and reminisced, laughed and cried. Rachel came to stay when she had a week off between shows. She’d never been happier that they had sorted their differences and became friends. They both cried a little when Rachel has to leave, but Quinn felt lighter for having seen her.

Two years to the day that Finn had left her with a kiss and a promise to be back soon. It was the last time she’d ever touch him.

He’d not known then. She hadn’t either come to that. She’d told him over the phone a week later, and how she wished she’d found out just a little earlier. Then she could have told him in person, shared just one moment of happiness face to face; instead of via satellite, or via prayer.

_“You’re… Quinn say that again, I think I misheard you,”_   
_“I’m pregnant you big doofus!” she’d laughed down the phone, incandescently happy. He was silent on the other end for a while._   
_“Oh wow,” he had said eventually; he was crying, she could tell, and she’d blinked back happy tears of her own. “Wow. Quinn I… I’m going to try and get leave as soon as possible okay? We’re going to celebrate this! This is incredible! Wow. God. I love you so much!”_   
_She laughed again, “I love you too, get yourself home!”_

 

 

But he didn't... she thought.

That was when Liam started crying and pulled her out of her memories. She shook herself and made herself get up from the floor. Her son needed her.

* * *

 

She misses this call.

Liam is being fussy, and she takes him out in his stroller to get him some fresh air and a change of scenery. She knows she doesn’t take him out as often as she should. She rarely leaves the house except from necessity. But he’ll be starting day-care soon, and she’ll be going back to work. It’s going to be strange. She’s become so used to being around him all day, but her mother and Carole think it’s for the best, and honestly she does miss working. Her maternity leave ended months ago, but her old employers still have a place for her; in fact her boss practically jumped at the chance to get her back. She’s been going back over old case files, and studying to get back into the swing of things.

The walk does both her and Liam a lot of good. He is calm and chattering away brokenly about ducks by the time they get home, and she feels more relaxed and resolves to go for walks more often. They went by the park, and though she could quite bring herself to take Liam into the playground, she thinks she might not be far away from being ready.

She’s surprised but happy to find Carole sat in her living room, and at first she’s too busy rushing over to her and hugging her and telling her about how much better things have been recently to notice Carole’s shell-shocked appearance. She has Liam in her arms and is bustling around the kitchen, getting things out to make them both tea before she realises that Carole hasn’t said a word.  
“Is everything okay?” she asks, and finally notices that there’s something awkward and unsure about how her mother-in-law is standing. She feels bad for not realising sooner that something is wrong and she puts Liam in his chair, moving quickly towards Carole and taking her hands in her own. “Carole?” she pushes, “What’s wrong? Is Burt… He’s okay right?”

Carole nods, and Quinn breathes a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t be the first time that Burt has had a health scare since his last heart attack. She knows the family has changed their habits considerably to accommodate his weak heart, and that he’s had to take a purely managerial role in his tire shop. She helped put together a diet plan for him the last time he came out of hospital.

“It’s…” Carole stops before she even begins, putting her head into her hands and sinking into a chair and Quinn goes to crouch beside her. When she finally looks up, there’s something almost manic in her expression. “I got a phone call this morning… from Finn’s squad leader,” Quinn stops breathing. “Quinn they think he’s still alive,” she chokes out.

Everything seems to narrow, and she feels her hands begin to shake in Carole’s. Somewhere on the edge of her mind she thinks she hears Liam say something about wanting to get out of his chair, but she can’t focus on anything. Blood is pounding in her ears, and she sucks in a sudden breath and lets go of Carole, stumbling upright and leaning back against the kitchen counter.

“No!” she says, because this isn’t fair. She’s been getting better, she’s been learning to cope, she’s been doing so well. She doesn’t want maybe’s or ‘they think’s’. They hurt too much. She can’t have hope that he’s still alive, because if he’s not… she can’t lose him a second time. She just can’t.

Sound comes back into her world as Liam makes a high pitched scream and she races over to pick him up. He clasps his hands around her neck, rests his head on her should, and calms down. Carole is looking up, a mixture of hope and fear all over her face, and that’s exactly what Quinn wants to avoid.

“They found his tags… they stormed somewhere they thought some… some rebels or something were hiding out. Whoever they were, they’d already moved on, but only recently… and they found his tags there, along with another soldiers,” Quinn shakes her head, trying to stop the words from going in. She can’t think of Finn being alive and alone and scared and in pain all this time, without her, without even her prayers for him to come home safely, it’s too much. He’s dead. She knows he’s dead. They as good as told her that he was dead. That there is no way he got out of that explosion. He’s gone.

“They have a lead on their whereabouts,” Carole drives on regardless of Quinn’s inner turmoil, “They’re treating it as a rescue mission,”

Quinn needs to sit down.

She moves from the kitchen and heads back into the living room, placing Liam amongst his toys on the floor, where he happily starts chattering away to a blue teddy bear called Drizzle. She sinks onto the sofa and rakes her hands through her hair. If what Carole says is true… if he really could still be alive… what does that mean?

What state will he be in? It’s been almost two years. What would they even have kept him that long for? Why didn’t they try to ransom him? Did they think he knew something… he didn’t know anything. He was just a soldier. He was just doing his duty. He didn’t know anything. Had they… she stops her thoughts right there. Squeezing her eyes closed and shaking the idea from her head. When she opens them again she focuses on Liam. Oblivious to her fears, and still playing happily on the floor; laughing to himself around half-formed stories as he moves his toys around each other.

She jumps slightly when Carole sits next to her, passing her a cup of the tea she stopped in the middle of making.

“I know,” she says quietly, and Quinn leans against her shoulder and takes a sip of tea. She’s suddenly very glad to have gone for that walk. If Carole got a call, then she certainly would have, and she’s glad to have heard this from Carole and not alone like last time.

“What do we do?” she asks.

 

 

“We wait.” Answers Carole, and Quinn just nods and goes back to watching her son.

* * *

 

In some ways that week is even more agonising than the first week she heard he was missing presumed dead. Carole doesn’t leave her, and her mother comes to help too. Liam seems to pick up on the tension, and Quinn has to put on her best face in order to stop him getting agitated and upset. Brittany and Santana take him for a day out to give them all a break.

When they’re told over the phone that the mission is going ahead the rest of the Hummel family joins them at Quinn’s house. The time difference means that excepting Liam and Abigail, they are all still sat awake in the living room at three in the morning, and Quinn and Carole are clutching hands almost painfully; through neither seems to notice. Judy has her arm around her daughter, and Kurt has his around his step-mother. Burt has taken up vigil by the phone.

It’s nearing half past the hour when the call from the White House comes. Quinn jumps at the ringing and starts breathing faster than is probably healthy. Beside her, Carole has conversely gone very still. The arm around her shoulder tightens comfortingly and her mother presses a kiss to her hair.

 

 

“Her father-in-law sir, Burt Hummel,” says Burt from the corridor, “Yes sir,” they hear him let out a rush of air, and everything tenses even more when he says “Thank you sir,” and they hear the phone being replaced in it’s holder. He comes back into the room eyes filled with tears and delirious smile on his face and both Carole and Quinn collapse in sobs as he comes over to hug them both. “They got them both out,” he says weakly, kissing both of them on the forehead. Quinn can’t speak, paralyzed with relief, and Carole just keeps whispering “Thank God, thank God, thank God,” over and over. Silently she sends up a thank you of her own.

Burt allows them some time to get some rest and just be happy before the serious talks begin again. Finn and his fellow soldier are alive, but they’re pretty beaten up, malnourished and in generally bad shape. It’s going to be a long time before they’re well enough to come home. There’s some explanation as to what happened, how they ended up captured and why nobody knew, but Quinn doesn’t recall a word.

The only thing she can really focus on is that they’re alive, that Finn is alive and he’s going to be okay and he’s going to come home. That he’s going to walk through that door again, and he’s going to meet his son and Quinn is going to be able to put her arms around him again; she thinks she will never let him go again. There will be time for the how’s and the why’s when she has him back by her side again.

* * *

 

Finn is moved to a secure hospital in Germany, and Quinn, Liam and the Hummel family are on the first available flight out to see him. He was scheduled to be returned to the USA as soon as he was cleared to fly by his doctors, but the whole family agreed they could not wait.

They fly first class, with the family of the second man, Richard Harley. His mother is too sick to fly, but his wife and two kids are there; a seven year old boy called Troy and a four year old girl called Lena who becomes enamoured with Liam and spends most of the flight pulling silly faces at him to make him laugh. Quinn watches them with a smile. She’d forgotten what it felt like to really feel happy, though she hadn’t even realised it until now.

The flight is long, and she falls asleep at some point while Carole watches over Liam. She wakes up when Abigail practically jumps into her lap to watch Europe appear far below them. She realises suddenly that this is the first time she’s ever actually been outside of the USA. It hadn’t seemed important when they were booking the flights, but knowing that Finn is safely tucked up in a hospital bed, and steadily recovering, she allows herself a moment to feel excited at the prospect of seeing another country first hand.

In the end, she doesn’t see much of Germany. It’s dark when they land, and Burt has arranged to have a hired car waiting for them and drives them all straight to the hospital. The men are in two separate rooms, and the two families part ways with hugs and wishes for luck and a swift recovery and then they are stood outside a room with the name ‘Finn Hudson’ written on a board than hangs at the side of the door.

The doctor glances at them, giving them a much needed moment to gather themselves before letting himself into the room. Quinn hears him say “Mr Hudson, we have some people here who would very much like to see you,” with a heavy German accent. The doctor appears a moment later with a smile and nods at Carole and Quinn first, “Just two to start with I think,” he says, and they nod and clutch at each other’s hands as they step into the room.

Quinn has tried to imagine the worst, not wanting to be shocked into tears when she sees him; not wanting to scare or upset him. It is a shock to see him wired up to several different machines, and he is far thinner than she remembers, his hair is thin, his skin has a strange almost grey pallor and she can see his cheekbones. His arms, which are lying over his sheets are almost purely skin and bone, a far cry from the strong arms that used to sweep her up off her feet in a fit of passion. His eyes are sunken, and they have a haunted quality about them and he looks so small, which should be impossible for him.

But he’s there, and he’s real, and when he sees them a little of the light comes back to his face; the tears when they inevitably come are purely relief and when he croaks out her name she loses all her remaining composure and hurries to his side, taking his thin fingers in hers and pressing kisses wherever she can reach. Carole takes her position on the opposite side of the bed, taking his other hand and is seemingly content to simply sit there and cherish him quietly while Quinn tells him over and over that he’s never going to leave her sight again, and yes, yes she does mean never; he smiles weakly at her and it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.  
  
She wants to bring Liam in as soon as possible, but the Doctor says that it’s best for him not to get too excited, so Burt and Kurt take it in turns to look after the kids while the other comes into see Finn. Maybe tomorrow, the Doctor says, and then sends everyone but Quinn and Carole away; Burt has a couple of rooms booked at a hotel across the road. Finn falls asleep early, a combination of general exhaustion and pain medications, and the doctor takes the two women to one side to discuss his recovery.

“Today is a quiet day,” he says seriously, and Quinn glances over at Finn’s peaceful form on the bed. She can’t imagine anything else from him, but the Doctor continues, “He has been through a great deal, most of which we can only guess, as such his behaviour is unpredictable, and he is suffering from severe nightmares. The medication he is on keeps him sedated, but he will take a long time to readjust when he leaves hospital. You will meet with a councillor when he transfers to America, they will talk to you in more detail about what he will need from you, but you need to know now, that this is going to be a long journey,” Quinn nods, and Carole assures the Doctor that they are well aware things aren’t going to be easy, and that they’re prepared to give Finn all the support that he will need.  
  
“We shall see how he is when he wakes,” says the Doctor, “Then we will see about introducing him to his son,” he adds with a smile, “I think that it will be good for him, it will give him something hugely positive to focus on,”

The Doctor determines it would be a bad idea to bring Liam in the next day. Finn is agitated and somewhat confused when he wakes, shouting hoarsely at his nurses and trying to get out of bed; he nearly hits one of the male nurses when they try to stop him. Quinn feels helpless, and Finn only calms down when his mother takes his hand and hushes him. He cries a lot after that, and Quinn holds him through it; she wipes his tears gently, wishing she could do something, anything, to make things better, to stop the nightmares and the waking dreams.

Burt takes Abigail and Liam for a day out in the city while Kurt goes on a shopping trip for essentials and brings them to Carole and Quinn at the hospital during visiting hours.

* * *

 

It’s another two days of similar behaviour before Finn has another good day and it’s like a sudden breath of fresh air. He wakes up and smiles up at Quinn, who is so taken aback she almost cries with relief. “Hey,” he croaks out, and she reaches out to stroke his hair out of his eyes. “Hey,” she replies with a smile, “How do you feel?” she asks tentative, and he shifts slightly in the bed.  
“Well it’s not the Ritz but it’ll do,” he says lightly, and that’s when a nurse comes in carrying a tray of what was probably food once, but now looks a little more like dog food, Finn scrunches up his nose, “Don’t think much of the room service though,” he jokes, and the nurse fixes him with a half amused eye-roll and places the tray down for him. Despite his complaints, he manages to eat most of the… whatever it is that is on the plate, and unlike previous days he manages to keep everything down. Quinn keeps her relief to herself, not wanting to worry him any more than necessary. In his quiet moments he barely even remembers his episodes. She sits on the bed beside him as he eats and runs her fingers soothingly over the back of his neck.

Ten minutes after he’s finished and the nurse has taken his tray away again Carole comes back from taking a shower and changing clothes to take over, and at the same time as his Doctor appears. As Quinn gets up reluctantly to take her own turn freshening up he stops her in the doorway, “Now might be a good time to bring your son,” he says quietly. She nods enthusiastically and smiles wildly. She leaves far more willingly then, and almost runs across the car park and road to the hotel.

She breaks the good news to Kurt who is playing with Liam on the floor of his room, and he beams up at her and promises to get him ready while she showers. She spares a couple of minutes to bring Liam into her arms and hug him tightly. He presses against her with a joyful cry, and she feels suddenly terrible for leaving him for so long.

She places him in Kurt’s arms and, almost dancing on air at the thought of finally, finally introducing him to Finn, she grabs a change of clothes from her hastily packed suitcase and runs into the adjoining bathroom. After four days in a terribly stuffy hospital room it’s nice to feel the hot water cascading down her body, washing away the grime and the hospital smell; even though she knows that will come back soon enough. Still, despite how good it feels she doesn’t spend long in there. Just long enough to wash her hair and scrub herself clean, and she doesn’t bother to dry herself off properly in her haste to get back to her husband and complete their family. Kurt dumps a towel on her head as she ties her shoes and rubs it hard so at least it isn’t dripping wet when the three of them leave the hotel and head back into the hospital.

Kurt goes in first, with one of the nurses, just to be sure and for the first time, Quinn starts to feel nervous. Since they arrived Finn hasn’t even asked about his son; and she wonders suddenly whether he even remembers. She starts to shake as she considers the possibility that he’d completely forgotten, and she hugs Liam close to her.  
“Mummy,” he mutters in her ear, and she’s torn out of her panic.  
“Yes sweetheart,” she says, drawing back a little to look at him where his head rests against her shoulder.  
“Kur’ said we,” he pauses, thinking a little, “We see daddy?” he asks and she smiles at him and nods.  
“That’s right,” she says, taking a deep breath, “We’re going to see your daddy. Are you happy?”  
She feels him nod his head against her. She smiles and presses a kiss to his head, and her nerves fly out of the window just as Kurt steps back out into the corridor, with Carole at his shoulder. Kurt smiles, and winks and Carole gives her free hand a squeeze as she steps into the room.

Finn is sat up in his bed, pillows arranged to help prop him upright, and he is staring out of the window, looking nervous, his nurse is stationed in a chair in a corner of the room so as to remain as unobtrusive as possible whilst still being close enough if a problem arises. Quinn isn’t sure how to bring Finn out of his reverie. She doesn’t want to scare him, as sudden movements and noises are prone to do, but he doesn’t seem to have noticed that they’ve come in; he just continues staring out of his window, mouth opening and closing as if he were talking to himself. She is just sending a helpless glance at the nurse in the corner when Liam takes the initiative to break the silence himself.  
“Daddy?” he questions loudly, and Quinn jumps more than Finn does and whips around to gage his reaction.

She needn’t have worried.

Finn turns slowly, and takes in the sight of Quinn stood there with Liam, and something utterly incredible occurs in his face. A year and a half of pain and fear and neglect seems to slip off him in the instant it takes him to recognise his son in his wife’s arms, and Quinn makes her way over quickly when he reaches an arm out towards them. She takes her usual seat at his bedside, and rearranges Liam on her lap, so that the two can get a good look at each other. Liam stares curiously up at Finn, who stares back with wonder, and for a moment the haunted look in his eye has disappeared and Quinn wishes they’d done this straight away, because this is what is going to save her husband.

He’s always wanted to be a father; she’s known that since high school. He’s going to be okay now. There will still be difficult days, but now she allows herself to do more than hope, she’s certain that he’s going to be okay. She can see it in the way he looks at Liam and gently runs a hand through his hair, as if he can’t believe he’s real, that he will do anything to get better for his son. Liam will help him to heal, give him something precious to hold onto, just as he did for her.

* * *

 

The visits are more frequent after that, and the improvement in Finn is almost incredible. He still has bad moments, there are still days when he spends hours at a time staring at nothing, and nights when even the medication isn’t enough to stop him waking up screaming and thrashing until one of the nurses races in to up the dosage and calm him down while Quinn or Carole or both hold his hands and whisper reassurances that he’s safe into his ear. But the good days are already starting to outnumber the bad ones when the Doctor finally clears him to return to the USA. On the day that he’s set to return he’s put into a wheelchair, and Liam – who has fallen as utterly in love with his father as Finn has with his son – insists on riding on his lap, and as Quinn wheels her husband out of the hospital to meet the rest of the waiting family and listens to them chatter about some German children’s show that one of the nurses had introduced them too, she finally feels the last of the weight that almost pushed her to the ground after that first phone call, lift off her shoulders and she laughs her first truly happy laugh in two years.

**Author's Note:**

> So basically all my inspiration and knowledge for this fic came from an episode of The West Wing, which you will know if you watch the show. I did some research, but obviously I have a very limited knowledge about the army and protocols about people being MIA and then being found... I hope it's not too inaccurate XD.
> 
> Also I apologise for what are probably a hundred different tense issues in this fic.


End file.
